Monday, December 6, 2010

If you don't believe that making Mozzarella is so easy a child can do it, here's your proof!

Anya Firisen is 10 years old and she already knows more about cheese than most of us. Ricki met her when she attended a Cheesemaking 101 Workshop with her former pre-school teacher this past summer. Soon after, Anya appeared in an article in Culture magazine (Fall, 2010) called "Lunchbox Lessons." She made recommendations and gave advice to help other young cheese enthusiasts. In fact, Culture teamed up with the Cowgirl Creamery to offer a selection of the cheeses Anya recommended.

When I contacted Anya, I learned that she was just about to be making Mozzarella all by herself. I asked her to take a few pictures and she agreed. In the end, she carefully documented every single step of the process. She was using our recipe which may be found in our book, "Home Cheese Making" and in our Mozzarella Kit. Her milk was pasteurized, but not homogenized (Ronnybrook Creamline).

Making Mozzarella with Anya Firisen

Adding the citric acid to the milk. (In our kit, we recommend diluting it first and putting it in the pot before adding the milk, but Anya's method worked fine.)

Slowly heating the milk to 90F.

Adding the rennet.

Covering the pot and waiting 10 minutes.

Cutting the curd.

Heating the curds to 105F.

Getting the bowl and gloves ready.

Taking the pot off the burner.

Spooning the curds into a bowl.

Heating the curds in the microwave.

Checking to see if the curds are hot enough.

Adding the salt. (The salt may be added during the stretch if you wish.)

That's it..... I'm way older than Anya (over half a century older) so I guess I can learn how to make cheese too. I'm ordering a kit today. The 2 community colleges that I can drive to to take classes charge a lot, and then I don't think I'll have the equipment to keep.My daughter & I will be trying this soon.